title: Teaching post-mortem external examination in undergraduate medical education--the formal and the informal curriculum.
abstract: In undergraduate medical education, the training of post-mortem external examination on dead bodies might evoke strong emotional reactions in medical students that could counteract the intended learning goals. We evaluated student perception of a forensic medicine course, their perceived learning outcome (via self-assessment) and possible tutor-dependent influences on the overall evaluation of the course by a questionnaire-based survey among 150 medical students in Hamburg, Germany. The majority of students identified post-mortem external examination as an important learning objective in undergraduate medical education and did not feel that the dignity of the deceased was offended by the course procedures. After the course, more than 70% of the students felt able to perform an external examination and to fill in a death certificate. Respectful behavior of course tutors towards the deceased entailed better overall course ratings by students (p<0.001). Our findings highlight the importance of factors such as clearly defined learning goals and course standardization (formal curriculum) as well as tutor behavior (informal curriculum) in undergraduate education in forensic medicine. Furthermore, we suggest embedding teaching in forensic medicine in longitudinal curricula on death and dying and on the health consequences of interpersonal violence.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Legal Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Butenfeld 34, 22529 Hamburg, Germany. s.anders@uke.uni-hamburg.de
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anders
authors.forename: Dorothee
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fischer-Bruegge
authors.forename: Merle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fabian
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Raupach
authors.forename: Corinna
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Petersen-Ewert
authors.forename: Sigrid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Harendza
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001344:Autopsy; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000193:education*; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching